Archbold, Ohio

Nancy Rupp, a school guidance counselor in Archbold, Ohio, (pop. 4,256) asks a classroom of elementary students what makes them angry. With each answer, Rupp blows another breath of air into a balloon.

When the balloon is inflated, Rupp secretly pops it with a pin, causing the students to jump. The explosion, she explains, is what happens when anger is bottled up and allowed to erupt.

“We talk about what happens when we fill with anger, and then talk about the alternative to popping,” Rupp says. “I ask them to put themselves in someone else’s place, and we discuss the Golden Rule—‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Townspeople and visitors have been gaining an awareness of this and other life lessons since the town adopted a mission statement declaring itself a “City of Character” last September. Each month, a different character trait is posted on roadside billboards at the entrances to town as a reminder of the importance of virtues such as gentleness, justice, discretion, and loyalty.

“It means being committed to improving your village and people through awareness and education, and making people aware that it does matter how they conduct themselves,” says Chuck Rychener, chairman of the village’s Character Council and its former mayor.

Rychener proposed that Archbold focus on character building after attending a meeting of the International Association of Character Cities two years ago. Archbold was one of the first communities to get involved with the Oklahoma City-based organization, now comprised of 96 communities nationwide.

People in Archbold have a long history of virtues such as hard work and perseverance. In 1834, a small group of industrious Amish-Mennonite families settled in an area north of town known as the Great Black Swamp. During the decade that followed, the settlers built hundreds of miles of drainage ditches, cleared the land, and turned the swamp into productive farmland.

Much of the surrounding land was forest, so it was natural that one of the early industries was woodworking. In fact, woodworking continues to play a vital role in Archbold.

In 1934, Erie Sauder, a descendant of those early settlers, founded a woodworking business in a barn behind his home. Fire twice destroyed the business, but with his inherent spirit and the encouragement of community leaders, Sauder rebuilt the company into the town’s largest employer. The Sauder Co. employs more than 3,200 workers in northwest Ohio and is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of ready-to-assemble furniture.

When he retired in the 1970s and turned the company over to his son, Sauder bought land north of town and began collecting cabins, tools, and farm implements left behind by the early settlers. Today, the 80-acre Historic Sauder Village is a tourist attraction that pays homage to the people who transformed Great Black Swamp into a community that endures.

Maynard Sauder says his late father always stressed the importance of serving the needs of others, and he’s pleased that Archbold is making an effort to build upon its character. He expects nothing less of his own company. “Do what you say, say what you mean, and keep your promises,” he says.

Terri Hughes-Lazzell is a freelance writer based in Ossian, Ind.

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